Gitchigumi Surf

And now for something really different. Hey, I never intended this blog to be all-tech, all-the-time — how boring would that be?

Today’s topic will be about *real* surfers — not the namby-pamby variety that merely moves fingers about a keyboard. No, this is about a rare breed that lives life, shall we say…a bit more fully? I’m a surfer myself, as a former resident of Hawaii and California, having gotten the bug (or “stoke,” as we surfers call it) early — when I was 13, hangin’ out at the famed Outrigger Canoe Club at Waikiki Beach, learning from a 100% Hawaiian named Chuck Kalili, from Haleiwa. One never loses the stoke, the Aloha — it stays with you forever. But, suffice it to say that I prefer warmer surfing spots, some of which are noted in my “Links” section at the right.

This blog post is about a handful of guys who give surf stoke a whole new meaning, right here in Minnesota (where I now spend most of my time) and elsewhere around the Great Lakes.

Lake Superior is the largest fresh water lake in the world, with many legends — not the least of which is the one made famous by Gordon Lightfoot. (See track 14.) Water temps along Superior’s shores rarely get out of the 50s F — and, in the fall and winter, when most of the good surf happens, they’re down in the 30s. Air temps can be down to — well, you know. Snow flies, winds howl, skies are gnarly…. generally not a friendly atmosphere. Mega wetsuits, complete with hoods and booties, are the order of the day. Add to that the only other requirement besides a board and leash: big cajones. This lake is dangerous in many ways. It’s a whole ‘nother North Shore, as we like to say. (Oddly, the coast along the lake’s western shore, north of Duluth — a huge tourist draw here in the Midwest — shares the name of surfing’s mecca on the island of Oahu. But the similarity ends there. I’ve included a few pix of Lake Superior here — in the summertime, courtesy of my friend Steve “Connecting the Dots” Borsch.)

Lately, I’ve been wanting to see if I can get up enough interest to start a Minnesota Chapter of The Surfrider Foundation (40,000 members worldwide). So, I’ve been thinking that a fitting start would be to do a tribute to the guys that make up this micro-niche sport of Lake Superior Surfing. And even the broader, less micro niche of Great Lakes Surfing — which has been going on longer than you think: the Great Lakes Surfing Association was founded in 1966. (I spent my summers on the beaches of southern Lake Michigan for some years before we moved to Hawaii.) Well, anyway, in my desire to write on the topic, I wasn’t alone — there must be something in the air. Because the New York Times just ran a great piece, too, over the weekend! … Endless Winter: A Surfing Paradise Not for the Faint of Heart. Which adds nicely to the other links I wanted to share with you here.

The best of these is a front-page story the Minneapolis Star-Tribune ran more than two years ago, complete with several great photos, which was headlined “Surf’s up — on Lake Superior! In February!” The original link is gone, but for some reason the story lives on (without photos) here, with a different title. I’ve included a couple of the photos from the article here. (Note: article and photos are copyright 2005, Star Tribune Company. Also note that the “Superior Surf” web site link listed near the end of the article is no longer active. But the web site www.superiorsurfclub.com is very much active.)

This piece was written by a great guy named Jerry Zgoda. I don’t know how many major, front-page features a sports writer gets (and one who normally covers stuff like golf!), but this article had to be one of the most popular ever here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Jerry actually spent days with these guys, covering them like Sports Illustrated or Outside magazine might have. And, to this day, he tells me it was the most memorable story in his career. I say the man should get a Pulitzer. 🙂

Another excellent article appeared in Lake Superior Magazine, written by one of the surfers featured in the above article, Greg Isaacson: Surfin’ the Big Lake. The man is not only a longtime dedicated surfer, but a great writer. (Must be something that makes the two go together, huh, Greg?) Zgoda even calls him a “philosopher/writer.” All I know is, I gotta meet this guy next time I’m in Duluth.

Did you catch the great documentary in theaters this past year on Great Lakes surfing? Probably not, since it was such a limited release. But you can grab the DVD here for thirty bucks, and I highly recommend it: Unsalted: A Great Lakes Experience. Sponsored by Ocean Pacific and produced by Vince Deur, it actually features a group of pro surfers who braved the cold — some from my other home town of San Clemente, CA, where it’s 70-ish all year. (Like I said, cajones.) And at least one of our legendary Minnesota surfers, Bob Tema, appears on the Lake Superior footage, and on the credits. Another web site where you can buy the DVD (and “Unsalted” t-shirts, too!) is Global Sports Project.

Last but not least, a book: Surfing the Great Lakes. Not a brand new one, and not the big, coffee-table variety with gorgeous color photography. Just a paperback with black-and-whites, and less than $15. But I get a huge kick out of reading all the spirited reader reviews of it on the Amazon page — lots of Great Lakes surfers, it turns out, coming out of the woodwork!

There — now wasn’t that fun, to get away from tech for a while? I hope to meet up with some of these famous Minnesota surfers soon, especially Greg Isaacson, Bob Tema, and Brian Stabinger. I want to personally raise a glass to these guys, and thank them for the vicarious thrills they bring to us warm-water guys. Mahalo and Aloha, bruddas.